ArticleHuman brain mapping2019
Attention to number: The convergence of numerical magnitude processing, attention, and mathematics in the inferior frontal gyrus.
Article in Human brain mapping, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Neurodevelopmental commonalities in cognitive control networks for mathematics and reading in meta-analysis of 3308 participants.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- Examination of common and unique brain regions for atypical reading and math: a meta-analysis.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Pooled it
- The interplay between executive function and learning disabilities: Developmental cognitive neuroscience perspectives on reading, math, and ADHD.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Review
- Local/global visual processing impacts numerosity-magnitude conflict resolution.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Lesion-symptom mapping reveals differential relationships between language and precise versus approximate numeracy.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2025Article
- Individual differences in the activity of executive function brain regions during number comparison.Behavioural brain research · 2025Article
- Intersection of spatial and numerical cognition in the developing brain.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Enhancing children's numeracy and executive functions via their explicit integration.NPJ science of learning · 2025Article
- Anodal High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Left (but not Right) Parietal Cortex Facilitates Mental Arithmetic.Journal of cognitive enhancement : towards the integration of theory and practice · 2025Article
- Timing matters: investigating the interplay of presentation duration and congruency in approximate number processing.Psychological research · 2024Article
- Brain connectivity and academic skills in English learners.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- The Brain's Control Networks in Reading: Insights From Cross-Task Studies of Youth.Mind, brain and education : the official journal of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society · 2023Article
- Brain Engagement During a Cognitive Flexibility Task Relates to Academic Performance in English Learners.Mind, brain and education : the official journal of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society · 2023Article
- Event-Related Potentials Reveal the Impact of Conflict Strength in a Numerical Stroop Paradigm.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- A connectome-based neuromarker of nonverbal number acuity and arithmetic skills.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Brain structural parameters correlate with University Selection Test outcomes in Chilean high school graduates.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Predicting children's math skills from task-based and resting-state functional brain connectivity.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2022Article
- Associations among socioeconomic status and preschool-aged children's, number skills, and spatial skills: The role of executive function.Journal of experimental child psychology · 2022Article
- Dyscalculia and Typical Math Achievement Are Associated With Individual Differences in Number-Specific Executive Function.Child development · 2020Article
- Shared Numerosity Representations Across Formats and Tasks Revealed with 7 Tesla fMRI: Decoding, Generalization, and Individual Differences in Behavior.Cerebral cortex communications · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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Abstract
Research indicates that the neurocognitive system representing nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes is foundational for the development of mathematical competence. However, recent studies found that the most common task used to measure numerical acuity, the nonsymbolic number comparison task, is heavily influenced by non-numerical visual parameters of stimuli that increase executive function demands. Further, this influence may be a confound invalidating theoretical accounts of the relation between number comparison performance and mathematical competence. Instead of acuity, the relation may depend on one's ability to attend to numerical information in the face of competing, non-numerical cues. The current study investigated this issue by measuring neural activity associated with numerical magnitude processing acuity, domain-general attention, and selective attention to number via functional magnetic resonance imaging while children 8-11 years old completed a nonsymbolic number comparison task and a flanker task. Results showed that activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus during incongruent versus congruent trials of the comparison task, our construct for attention to number, predicted mathematics achievement after controlling for verbal IQ, flanker accuracy rate, and the neural congruency effect from the flanker task. In contrast, activity in frontal and parietal regions responding to differences in difficulty of numerical comparisons, our construct for numerical magnitude processing acuity, did not correlate with achievement. Together, these findings suggest a need to reframe existing models of the relation between number processing and math competence to include the interaction between attention and use of numerical information, or in other words "attention to number."
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.